{"id":471493,"date":"2026-03-12T13:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T13:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/471493\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T13:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T13:04:09","slug":"a-victorian-house-in-hampstead-that-perfectly-balances-beauty-and-practicality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/471493\/","title":{"rendered":"A Victorian house in Hampstead that perfectly balances beauty and practicality"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u2018It took a bit of time to understand how we were going to work around this narrow, tall building,\u2019 Anna explains. \u2018We had to reconfigure the whole house from top to bottom because it was ill-equipped, with poorly-fitted, small <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houseandgarden.co.uk\/topic\/storage\" isautogenerated=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">storage<\/a> that couldn\u2019t contain the gubbins that comes with family life.\u2019 This led to the creation of quite an intense technical package, which Anna worked on with a team of trusted tradespeople from Silver Design &amp; Build. \u2018The scope for the joinery alone was huge because the client wanted the children to have no cause for throwing coats and bags over the banister. We needed to build in practical and accessible storage everyone would actually use.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was in the open plan kitchen dining area at the back of the house that the joinery needed to work the hardest. The clients had specified it as a place where the children could have breakfast, but also as the venue for elegant dinner parties. As such, Anna designed, alongside Devol <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houseandgarden.co.uk\/topic\/kitchen\" isautogenerated=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kitchens<\/a>, an island with handy bar stools, as well as a curved banquette that can easily seat between eight and ten people.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Image may contain Architecture Building Dining Room Dining Table Furniture Indoors Room Table and Interior Design\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"ResponsiveImageContainer-dkeESL cQPiWi responsive-image__image\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/8.hires.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The dining table base is from Julian Chichester, with a bespoke oak top made by Anna\u2019s joiners. The fabric used on the banquette is from Rose Uniacke, in the \u2018Periwinkle\u2019 colour of her Woven Bottle fabric. The dining chairs are from Pinch, with cushions in \u2018North Downs Scalamandre\u2019 by Turnell &amp; Gigon.<\/p>\n<p>The joinery was also absolutely integral to balancing the client&#8217;s abstract art collection. \u2018The family were coming from Norway to London with almost no furniture but this fantastic selection of art that became the jumping off point for much of the project,\u2019 Anna says. Everything, from the height of the banquette in the kitchen and the mantle in the primary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houseandgarden.co.uk\/topic\/bedroom\" isautogenerated=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">bedroom<\/a>, to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houseandgarden.co.uk\/topic\/paint\" isautogenerated=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">paint<\/a> selection, was done to accentuate or counter this collection. One of the most exciting examples of this is the large bookcase that spans one wall in the kitchen and sits opposite the largest canvas in the collection. The design of the bookcase is influenced by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.houseandgarden.co.uk\/topic\/mid-century\" isautogenerated=\"true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">mid-century<\/a> principals, chosen both to \u2018knock out any newness in the house and to reflect the client&#8217;s Scandinavian heritage.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The bolder colour scheme throughout the house\u2013a small departure for the studio\u2013was also response to the dramatic, large scale canvasses the studio was working with. \u2018The artworks are pieces of scale and very much informed the colour schemes and style of the rooms,\u2019 Anna says. \u2018What we always want to deliver is a home for the clients, so we had to step away from what we have done before, approach things from a slightly different angle. Our classical approach wouldn&#8217;t work here.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018It took a bit of time to understand how we were going to work around this narrow, tall&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,6642,7884,1120,96,33917,13905,20779,140015,56,54,55,35814],"class_list":["post-471493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-city","tag-city-houses","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-houses-packed-with-colour","tag-london-houses","tag-modern-houses","tag-terraced-houses","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-victorian-houses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}